OXFAM – Hygiene promotion: determining what works

When a massive earthquake struck Haiti in January 2010, followed by a cholera epidemic that broke out in October of that year, Oxfam rushed assistance—clean water, sanitation, and hygiene materials and information—to hard-hit areas to protect public health.

Hygiene promotion is arguably the most important intervention in a cholera epidemic: the route of cholera transmission is fecal-oral, and contaminated hands are often the principal vector. So Oxfam engages in a wide range of hygiene-promotion activities to encourage washing hands—specifically, washing hands with soap at key moments, such as before eating and after defecation.

But which of our interventions have been the most effective, and why? Is it more important to put resources into hygiene-themed theater productions or radio call-in shows? There is little hard evidence to suggest that—in Haiti or in emergencies anywhere—one hygiene-promotion activity works better than another. But lives, not to mention valuable resources, may depend on the answer, so in the spring of 2011, Oxfam engaged Eawag, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, to study the effectiveness of our hygiene-promotion activities in Haiti.

So, it took a bit longer than planned (like most IT projects) but I am happy to share with you today a sneak preview (or beta version) of the new upgraded SuSanA website. The launch of the upgraded website is just around the corner; we hope to have it done by the SuSanA meeting on 26 August next week Saturday. Meanwhile, if you have a spare 5 minutes, please […]

Dear Soumya, Thanks for posting your 4 papers here on the forum. I followed the link you gave in this thread and found this information: Data Availability: The following data and information are available at GitHub ( github.com/Barbaraevansuk/Fecal-sludge-e...-and-transport-costs ): The excel-based cost model; Input data on costs used in the cost model; The […]

Dear Neil, Is it possible to browse through the discussion on the role of systematic reviews in low and middle income countries (LMICs) somewhere on your website (without being a member)? If not, I guess we have to wait for the synthesis report in September (please post it here when it's done). Did the topic of sanitation get any airtime during this dis […]

Dear Duncan, Thanks a lot for posting about your paper here, giving us the opportunity to discuss this and to correspond directly with the author which is super! It's a really important topic: "The elimination of open defecation and its adverse health effects: a moral imperative for governments and development professionals" I looked at the ch […]

Dear SuSanA Community, SuSanA has 300 Partners now and yes, our network is growing! We take pleasure in featuring our 300th partner 3ie. Want to know more about 3ie? 3ie is an international grant-making NGO promoting evidence-informed development policies and programmes. Their work focuses on generating high quality evidence that contributes to effective pol […]